Originally Posted By SS109:
Are they still in service? I had heard the USAF wanted to dump them right before the Gulf War. Did they get their wish?

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Actually, back in 1981, one of my supervisors was telling me the Air Force wanted to get rid of them at that time. The Soviets had started a refit for the T-72 that involved putting radar controlled multi-barreled guns on their turrets as the counter-measure to the A-10.

Of course the T-shirt smells like ass. It's 5,000 years old--Master Shake

Like a midget at a urinal, I had to be on my toes--Lt. Frank Drebin

When I got married, I had nothing. When I got divorced, I got to keep a little of that

I was at the Tampa Bay Buc's game Sunday (no comments from the peanut gallery on that game!!!). Anyway, they had an A10-warthog do a fly over of the stadium. Usually only the home opener gets a flyover, but since Sept. 11th we've had one at each of the 2 home games so far. The cool thing was that since I've had my partial season tickets we've seen a B52, b2 (unfortunately missed it, wasn't our game), last game against Greenbay we had a 4 pack of something, couldn't hear what they said it was, F4's maybe????. The best part about the A10 was that after passing the stadium, it tipped both wings pretty impressively, not just a little dip, but a hefty tilt.
Thought it was cool!

Couple of years ago at an airshow we had the chopper on display. They had an A-10 on display as well. They fired the thing up and he put on a nice demo of some of it's capabilities. Toward the end of his program he flew formation with a P-51 Mustang!!!!!! VERY impressive.
A-10 is ugly as sin but if I was a tank driver that thing would make me crap my drawers. Slow and can hang around for a long time. Thing is well armed and very deadly. Hope they stay in the inventory for many years.
Just like the Cobra - old but deadly as hell, reliable and cheap to operate, relatively speaking.

Looking out the window right now at a flightline full of them, as well as a bunch of the coolest aircraft in the USAF - the C-130! Nothing like 12 Herks taking off . . . mmmmmm. Sorry, I forgot myself for a moment.

Michigan Air Guard still has them and they should hang on to them as long as possible !!
Have called them in for CAS (close air support) training missions and they are awesome. F-16 pilots didn't come below 3,000 ft. Warthog drivers were frequently below us on the ridge tops, and would pop-up and flip upside down to aquire the target !! Then roll back in and shoot the hell out of whatever... gives me the chills still.

If you ever get the chance you must see a fire power demo by a Warthog.They have to be seen to be believed. The thing is a cannon that we built an airplane around.I saw one turn a T54 tank into swiss cheese in seconds.

Originally Posted By clinth:
We still have the In AK as well at E.A.F.B
Clinth

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we do have them in AK but not at Elmendorf AFB. they are stationed beside F-16's at Eilson AFB in Fairbanks. Elmendorf has F-15 C,D, and E's. its a blast to see them shoot live fire! im the lucky one that gets to strip the anodizing of the 30mm case to polish the aluminum and make a dummy bullet for plaques.

The unofficial Davis-Monthan AFB website:
http://www.amarcexperience.com/AMARCDBSummaryByTypeAdv.asp
lists 180 A-10s in the boneyard as of the end of August. As I recall, over half the inventory was sent there about 1992. I hope they keep them in good order as there is simply no substitute.

I first saw them in the 70's when I was in the Corps,,they were awesome,,I knew that they would prove to be of great use in the future,,damm shame that Republic aircraft on Long Island "the cradle of aviation" went out of business after investing most of their assets in a trainer for the Air Force to replace the old Cessna Dragonfly,,then again Grumman was also destroyed on the Island,,to great aviation companies no longer of use for the defense of this great country. Thats OK the power elite will just have to buy what ever we need from Red China, Profit Baby? In the long run who will profit from global trade? First it was NAFTA,,then GATT,, money makes the world go around the world go around, the world go around,,then what? "let them eat cake!"

I remember trying to outrun iron bombs from F16s droping them form 6000 ft, our FAC was pissed. But the A10s came in at antena level and those guys where awsome. You get 4 M2 Bradleys firing at one bunker and one A10 comeing in and giving it a short burst, DAMN!
I kind of like that airplane.
[salute]

They're still flying them at Davis-Montham, when I was there last year visiting the Pima air museum they flew over head all day long.
[img]http://www.erobbins.com/vacation/arizona2/images/pima61.jpg[/img]